JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

My career as a Shelf Bandit began in the 1990s, when my first book was published. It was my friend and fellow author, a distinguished recipient of the Order of the French Fry, who introduced me to shelf banditry. We were standing in the Filipiniana section of a bookstore when he casually picked up a stack of his books and moved them to a more prominent place on the shelf, where they were more likely to be noticed by a random browser. So I picked a good spot, moved its occupants to the side, and transferred a stack of my own books to the vacated space. 

As I’ve mentioned, I’m a big fan of NYRB Classics and wish to see them all lined up on bookstore shelves, where they would be more attractive to potential readers. Or at least to interior designers, who would appreciate the spine design. I’ve suggested this to bookstores a couple of times. Yesterday while browsing in Powerbooks Greenbelt, it occurred to me that the way to see this done would be to do it myself. So I located all the NYRB Classics in the Literature section and brought them to the coffee shop to take a picture. Then I cleared a place for them on a shelf.

 

 

Yesterday I tried to do the same thing at Fully Booked in Rockwell. I got one of their trolleys and started locating the books. Unfortunately since the store was renovated the aisles between shelves are much narrower—you can barely drag a trolley through, and if someone is standing before a shelf, you get jammed. So I only found a few titles before I lost my patience.

 

File under “Walang magawa”.

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This is the New York Times article on Pannonica de Koenigswarter on the occasion of the US publication of Three Wishes.

This is my article on Pannonica which appeared in The National, Abu Dhabi, in May. The Times cites The National piece as a reference. Hmm. Except for a few quotes, looks like I did all their research. Wow, thanks.